Insider: Colts' second-round pick Wilson talks and plays a big game

INDIANAPOLIS – He is brash, bold and boisterous.

Maybe you consider those qualities distasteful. Quincy Wilson considers them essential job requirements.

For the Colts’ second-round draft pick, swagger is a necessity. Which is good, because the former University of Florida cornerback, selected 46th overall Friday night, has a surplus of it.

Where does it comes from?

“It just comes with (playing) the position and knowing how good I am and what I can do,” Wilson said in an absolute matter-of-fact manner.

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We will learn in due time whether Wilson is proven right in his self assessment. If so, the Colts might just have a secondary that can play some winning football.

Two nights, two highly-touted defensive backs fall to Indianapolis. They have basically remade their secondary with their first two selections in this draft, taking safety Malik Hooker from Ohio State with the 15th overall pick before grabbing Wilson a night later.

Later, in the third round, the Colts selected Ohio University edge rusher Tarell Bashum with the 80th overall choice, addressing another huge defensive need.

Wilson, if most experts are to be believed, was one of, if not the highest-rated player, remaining on the board when the Colts found themselves on the clock. He brings excellent size, measuring 6-1 and 211 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine. That’s a key box that Colts GM Chris Ballard likes to check off in his cornerbacks.

And Wilson has played plenty of the sort of press coverage that will be a staple for him in coach Chuck Pagano’s Indianapolis defense. He challenges receivers with his large frame and is considered to be skilled at using his hands at the line of scrimmage -- qualities that should ease his transition to playing in the Colts’ aggressive scheme.

"Big, athletic corners with ball skills," Ballard said of his preferences. "We think he's got a lot of upside. He's still young. Twenty years old."

And when we say Wilson challenges receivers, we don’t just mean physically.

“I definitely am a talker,” Wilson said. “It definitely has an impact.”

But they don't pick guys 46th overall because they're good at playing mind games. Wilson brings his brand of competition right to receivers’ faces.

“I’m just a shutdown corner, man,” Wilson said. “I feel like I frustrate a lot of receivers and get them off their game. That’s where I come in and make plays.”

Wilson, an early entrant after his junior season, had expectations of going in the first round. When that didn’t happen, his confidence didn’t take the hit you might expect. In fact, he said he’ll use the perceived slight as a motivating factor in Indianapolis.

Why did he slide? Maybe because he’s not particularly fast, clocked at 4.54 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the combine. It’s clearly within the Colts’ acceptable range for cornerbacks – or else they’d have passed – but his speed and size led to suggestions by some in scouting circles that he projected to safety in the NFL.

Wilson quickly put that to rest, establishing during his conference call with his Indianapolis reporters that the intent was for him to play cornerback for the Colts. But he was stung by the mere idea that he might be anything less than a shutdown corner.

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“It definitely was annoying, but I don’t really care what they’re talking about to be honest,” Wilson said. “I know what I can do at cornerback.”

The Colts are well on their way to deploying a completely overhauled secondary in 2017. If Wilson gets off to a fast start, he will have every opportunity to win a starting job. That could produce a starting cornerback combo of Wilson and Vontae Davis, with Hooker at free safety and Clayton Geathers at strong safety. The way things are trending, veteran Darius Butler looks destined to return to slot cornerback though he has been pressing coaches to let him play safety on a full-time basis.

The Bashum selection gives the Colts another option at outside linebacker. The Mid-American Conference defensive player of the year registered 11.5 sacks in 2016 and 16 tackles for losses. The defense might have taken a big first step toward needed improvement.

"We had some holes that we needed fill," Ballard said. "You guys watch the same games that we do." 

Still, questions about the defense will remain until we see it in action. But Wilson could not be more sure of himself.

“I’m big. I’m long. I’m physical. I’m fast. I’m strong,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got it all.”

Follow Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter and Facebook.